Courage

Portland’s Help is the frenzied sound of a broken and collapsing society. In a world beset with anti-human reactions to daily struggles, Help responds with ways to dismantle evil machines and systems. It is this pro-human mindset that brought Help band-mates Ryan Neighbors (Guitar/vocals), Morty (bass), and Bim Ditson (drums) together. All three had spent the last decade or so in other, perhaps more restrained, bands: Ditson with grinding indie rockers And And And, Neighbors with alt-pop dynamos Portugal. The Man and with his electronic project Hustle and Drone. With Help, they are retrieving punk roots each member had put down in their teens. They are ripping the seams back open to see what’s really inside. “Everyone is angry,” says Neighbors, “Make some art about it.” Help is the band Portland needs right now. Fuck it, it’s the band the whole world could use a heavy dose of if we want to climb out of the dark ages of greed and into the next century of mutual aid and collaborative self-directed communities of creativity.

Help’s new EP “Courage” is centered around heartbreak and pain. Progress as a series of fresh new hells. Hoping that it is better to be in love than to be right, while enduring the apparent absence of both love and coherence in American culture. The short version of the story of this record is that both Ryan and Bim’s lives were exploding and falling apart. Okay, okay, it’s a breakup album. Their vulnerability in these songs became necessary for their survival. Though deeply personal, these songs are meant as an invitation for others to feel and hurt freely. After all, this may be one of the last freedoms we get to enjoy in this crumbled world. Courage. In the face of hopelessness, in the face of everyone pretending anything is fine, in the face of the end of things meant to last and last. Courage. For the band, Courage is a step towards a broader sound and an experiment in honesty over security. This release (firstly released by Three One G Records) also includes the band’s debut self-titled EP. Their focus in all they do: Remove fear from decision making. Act in defiant joy. Refuse to dominate others. Do not hoard the gifts of the universe. Remember: the future is uncertain. Ends don’t justify means. Solidarity now. If the goal is growth, success is an ending. War and love are forms of death. This record is an example of the destructive nature of growth: on the planet, on the human spirit, on our ability to hold on.

A note from the band about the EP: “As much as we feel like Courage is a cohesive piece of music and stands alone, we wanted to give fans more bang for their buck and a more complete listening experience. We decided to press our self-titled EP, Help (released in 2019), on side B of the vinyl as well as make these songs bonus tracks on the digital release. The songs we wrote in 2019 still mean just as much to us as these new songs, our lives were just breaking in different ways, and they will be next time around too.”